Minyak.. Oil.. Petroleum.. Crises

Since the last two days, till now I could still feel the heat (eventho I am in Sydney), what else, the heat of thousands vehicles queuing up to fill up the tank: more than 40% increase in petrol price!!.. The highest ever.. Has Pak Lah's and his cabinets gone mad?? (may be he was not aware) The stumbled of his army on the PRU 2008 was not enough to weaken his popularity among us, and let alone came this SUDDEN and SHOCKING news.. again, 40% is not a small number: if I got my mathematics right: my WJV 2509 Blue WAJA would take up more than RM 160 for full-tanked fuel (as opposed to just RM 110 merely 3 months ago!!) - aduss, dengan gaji tak seberapa, mana la nak cekau duit isi minyak gi keje..

Do you guys know that, the 'lovely' Najib always 'know' how to comfort us by telling us: that our oil price is among the lowest in the region (or even the world), has he seen the figures from other countries like Iran, Venezuela, etc?, just take a look at these figures and think for yourself:

Iran — RM0.29 seliter.

UAE — RM1.19 seliter

Venezuela — RM0.16 seliter

Nigeria — RM0.32 seliter

Arab Saudi — RM0.38 seliter

Mesir — RM1.03 seliter

Kuwait — RM0.67 seliter

Brunei — RM2.03 seliter

Malaysia — RM2.70 seliter

'There are many reasons for the rise of prices, but no matter what they are, the people are the one who bear the pressure. The question is, how long could the people withstand spiralling prices? Does the government and employers have any measure to help the helpless people?

In fact, there are ways to cope with the issue but the key is to profoundly think and to effectively implement the policies. Of course, the most immediate way is to increase salary or give out “temporary living subsidies”, but at the same time, productivity must be increased as well.

The government may also consider tax reduction, including the increase in the income tax threshhold, reduce industrial tax, assessment tax and road tax to alleviate the people's pressure.

Actually, in such a situation, the people and the government will have to spend wisely but it is not the best solution to keep cutting expenditure. It is better to find revenue than keep cutting expenditure. Oh please, those people in power, please find another way to raise revenue!'